Andrew Aquilina

Hello! I am a Ph.D. student at the School of Computing and Information, University of Pittsburgh. I shall be working under the guidance of Prof. Yu-Ru Lin within the Computational Social Dynamics Lab.

My research goal is to study how socially-aware natural language processing systems can provide a better understanding of human social behaviour and bridge societal divides within digital spaces. I am also interested in assessing the ethical integrity of such technologies to ensure their safety and responsible use.

I have previously graduated with a master’s in AI from Stockholm University, where I worked with a Ph.D. student from Spotify to investigate how podcast comprehension can be improved using topic segmentation and text summarisation methods. I was advised by Prof. Panagiotis Papapetrou and Maria Movin.

Before my move to Stockholm, I also completed my bachelor’s in AI at the University of Malta, where I worked with Dr. Charlie Abela to explore the relationship between users’ psychological traits and the social connections they create on Twitter.

Education

Aug. 2024 - Apr. 2029 (Expected), Department of Informatics and Networked Systems, University of Pittsburgh,

Doctor of Philosophy in Information Science.

Aug. 2021 - Jun. 2022, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University,

Master of Science in Computer and System Sciences, Artificial Intelligence.

Oct. 2018 - Jun. 2021, Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Malta,

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence (with First Class honours).

Industry Experience

Sep. 2023 - Jul. 2024, Backend Team, Loqus Business Intelligence,

Artificial Intelligence Engineer.

Nov. 2022 - May 2023, Data Team, Sambla,

Data Scientist.

Jul. 2019 - Apr. 2020, Jul. 2021 - Aug. 2021, Student Internship, Ascent,

Junior Software Engineer / Junior Data Scientist.

Jul. 2020 - Sep. 2020, Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Malta,

Software Engineer Apprentice.

Publications

A bit about me

🏝️ I’m from a very small island in the Mediterranean called Malta. It’s a beautiful country, you should come visit! If you’re considering a trip, my friend’s website has some great information.

🕹️ My all-time favourite video game has to be the original Deus Ex. One of the best stories ever told in a game. I served as a beta tester for an overhaul mod called Deus Ex: Revision, which I highly recommend.

👁️ I have mild red-green colour blindness. Go figure.

🐧 I used to have a blog about Club Penguin when I was 12. I had even convinced my mum to buy me a .com domain for it! It was a simpler time.

🍫 A hill I’d die on? Mint chocolate is humanity’s greatest mistake.

🌳 Living in Sweden for a couple of years made me realise how much I value proximity to nature. Nothing better than a walk in the woods to clear your head.

🚵 I learnt how to ride a bike at the age of 23. Never too late to learn!